Born of a desire to reduce India's mountain of waste and to help some of Delhi's poorest living in the City's slums, Conserve India was founded as an NGO by Anita and Shalabh Ahuja.
Conserve started as a recycling project and was quickly confronted with the fact that especially thousands of plastic bags could not be composted or recycled locally. The founders combined expertise in engineering and creative talent lead to the solution. Conserve started "upcycling" the bags by washing, drying, and pressing them into sheets of plastic that could be reinvented as fashion accessories. The principle of handmade recycled plastic (HRP) was born.
Other examples of materials used by Conserve to reduce, reuse, upcycle and add value to waste, create income and jobs are:
Rubber tube.
The inner tubes of o
ld truck tyres are soft and durable and a great alternative to leather. Once the inner tube is washed, it is cut into shape or patterns in a way that allows total flexibility in designing fashionable, functional and fun bags.Seat belts.
Rolls of un-used seat belt material from manufacturers that would go to the landfill are used and woven together
into fabulous bags.Today, Conserve India employs and trains hundreds of people from Dehli's most disadvantaged communities. The generated income from selling the products is spent on social welfare projects and education in those same communities.
The products are a great fit with current eco-chic trends in the United States and Europe. They are functional, dramatic and make excellent conversation pieces.
